1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an exercise device and exercise methods and more particularly to an active exercise device that can be used to improve posture and various exercise methods for strengthening various muscles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Proper poster is important for both health and appearance reasons. Indeed, it is well known that improper posture can lead to various health problems including chronic back pain. As such, over the years, a number of devices have been created to facilitate strengthening of certain muscles in the human body in order to improve a person's posture. These devices fall into two general categories: namely, portable devices and free standing devices. The portable devices may be further categorized as active and passive portable devices. Examples of passive devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,842,453 and 5,876,361; United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2004/0015108 A1, as well as Japanese Published Patent Application JP 2001-231883. U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,361, as well as Japanese Published Patent Application JP 2001-231883 disclose strap-on devices in which a user straps on a harness type device in a standing position. The harness type devices are configured to urge the wearer's body into a proper standing posture position.
Other passive devices for correcting posture are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,453 and United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2004/0015108 A1. The '453 Patent discloses a specially configured pillow that is intended to be positioned under the user while the user is lying down. The '453 Patent purports that the device stretches the user's spine to correct posture. United States Published Patent Application US 2004/0015108 A1 discloses a device configured to be used in a sitting position. The device disclosed in the '108 application is a pillow, configured to be used in a sitting position. The pillow is configured so that it creates a unstable surface for sitting, thus causing a user to flex certain back muscles while seated thereon to improve posture.
In order to intensify body posture training exercises, free standing exercise machines have been developed to improve posture. These machines generally fall into two categories. One category relates to single purpose free standing machines whose intended purpose is strictly for posture training. Examples of free standing machines in this category are disclosed in: U.S. Pat. No. 6,579,212; United States Patent Application Publication Nos. US 2002/0002104 A1 and 2004/0185991 A1; and UK Patent Application Publication No. GB 2 131 305 A. Unfortunately, single purpose free standing machines are relatively expensive and take up a substantial amount of floor space. In order to solve these problems, multiple purpose free standing exercise machines have been developed. Such multiple purpose free standing exercise machines are known to be configured to enable multiple exercises to be performed thereupon including one or more posture exercises. Examples of such multi-purpose machines are disclosed in: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,176,817; 6,447,430; 6,575,880; and 6,746,385. A multiple purpose exercise machine is also disclosed in United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2004/0185987. Even though such multiple purpose exercise machines solve the problem of requiring a separate machine for posture exercises, such multi-purpose machines are still relatively large and take up a relatively large amount of floor space. As such, multi-purpose exercise machines have not been well received in the home use retail market. Thus, there is a need for an exercise device for enabling a user to perform posture correction exercises that is relatively inexpensive and does not require a lot of floor space.